Since 2018, Tabletop Vacations has been staging immersive Dungeons & Dragons experiences—professional dungeon masters running sessions in historic English castles and at Landoll’s Mohican Castle in the United States. The all-inclusive weekends draw longtime DMs who rarely get time to play and who often ask the pros for practical guidance, from improv and puzzle design to managing difficult table dynamics. To meet that demand, the organizers created Dungeon Master University, which will launch its inaugural session on January 2–3, 2026 at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.
“You can watch thousands of videos online and learn a great deal, but there’s no substitute for an in-person experience where you can engage directly with instructors and peers,” said Jason Carl, World of Darkness brand marketing manager and dean of Dungeon Master University, in a Zoom interview with Polygon.
Tuition ranges from $995 to $2,500 depending on access and amenities. The base package includes one of four focused courses: Skill Building (fundamentals of running D&D), Campaign Building (designing long-form campaigns), Worldbuilding (setting creation), or Career Building (preparing for a professional path in gaming). Each course delivers roughly eight hours of instruction across the two-day program.
“The courses are built to produce immediate, usable results—greater confidence and concrete tools you can apply to your game right away,” Carl said. “They’re not merely lectures or prerecorded videos; they’re hands-on sessions you can learn from and implement in your next campaign.”
Many classes are taught by two instructors: for example, Monte Cook and Keith Baker both lead the worldbuilding curriculum. The Career Building track features a roster of four teachers, including Elisa Teague (who authored the puzzles chapter in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything), The Adventure Zone co-host Clint McElroy, and Hunter Fell, an early professional GM on StartPlaying. Additional faculty members give students tailored guidance to match specific ambitions.
“Some attendees want to launch their own actual-play show or publish original content; others simply want to know how to land a GM slot at an event like D&D in a Castle,” Carl explained. “They ask questions like, ‘What skills do I need? Can anyone do it?’”
The $1,500 “gold” tier adds a welcome reception on January 1, a curated gift pack, and a 30-minute private office-hour session with a faculty member. Tabletop Vacations previously offered shortened “Castle Days” between campaigns at D&D in a Castle—seminars and one-on-one time with pro DMs—and that model informed the new program.
“You could easily spend an entire weekend in office hours with professional DMs,” Carl said, though he noted the structured coursework and lab work are likely to be among the most valuable elements.
The top-tier $2,500 “platinum” pass includes a one-hour private coaching session plus the opportunity to run a game for five players alongside a faculty member, who will provide post-game notes and coaching.
“Faculty will evaluate whatever the participant wants to work on—improv, tricky combat pacing, or a world they’ve been building—and deliver targeted feedback,” Carl said.
Organizers plan to use feedback from the first session to refine future offerings—options under consideration include more office hours, extending the program to three days, or experimenting with varied seminar formats.
“I’d love to see Dungeon Master University happen multiple times a year, in different cities and countries, and potentially alongside major conventions,” Carl said. “The early response has been fantastic, and we’re excited to grow from here.”
Source: Polygon
